{"id":93120,"date":"2026-07-06T21:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T02:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=93120"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T02:32:18","slug":"former-israeli-hostages-sasha-trufanov-and-sapir-cohen-wed-in-emotional-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/former-israeli-hostages-sasha-trufanov-and-sapir-cohen-wed-in-emotional-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Israeli hostages Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen wed in emotional ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By PHILISSA CRAMER<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Two former Israeli hostages have wed, in the first marriage of hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_93121\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2241205458-scaled-e1783342790751.avif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93121\" class=\"wp-image-93121\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2241205458-scaled-e1783342790751.avif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-93121\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sapir Cohen and Sasha Troufanov share their experiences of being kidnapped by Hamas and held hostage in Gaza at the Jewish Community Center of Houston on May 29, 2025. (Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen were visiting Trufanov\u2019s family on Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 when they were attacked and abducted to Gaza. Trufanov\u2019s father was murdered. Cohen was freed during a temporary ceasefire after 55 days, while Trufanov was held for nearly 500 days.<\/p>\n<p>They married on Sunday in Israel, in a ceremony attended by multiple former hostages as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who posted a picture of himself under the chuppah, or wedding canopy, with Trufanov and Cohen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe prayed for your return, we were moved to tears when you came back home, and this evening we were privileged to rejoice together with you and to bless you under the chuppah on your joyous day,\u201d Herzog wrote.<\/p>\n<p>While other freed hostages have celebrated births and engagements, the wedding is the first for a former hostage. It comes just days after Israel marked the 1,000th day since Oct. 7, and as the government\u2019s handling of the hostage crisis continues to roil Israeli politics ahead of a looming election. Last week, Nitzan Alon, an Israeli army major general who was part of a small hostage negotiation team, said at a conference that more hostages could have been returned alive had the Israeli government made different decisions, strengthening a widespread belief within Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Alon, too, was present at Trufanov and Cohen\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n<p>After Trufanov stepped on a glass, the traditional signal for the execution of the marriage, Eyal Golan\u2019s \u201cAm Yisrael Chai,\u201d an anthem of Jewish and Israeli solidarity during the Gaza war, began playing.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"iw\" dir=\"rtl\">\u05d4\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05db\u05dd, \u05d4\u05ea\u05e8\u05d2\u05e9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d3\u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea \u05db\u05e9\u05d7\u05d6\u05e8\u05ea\u05dd \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05d4, \u05d5\u05d4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d6\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05d7 \u05d9\u05d7\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05ea\u05db\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05db\u05dd \u05ea\u05d7\u05ea \u05d4\u05d7\u05d5\u05e4\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05ea\u05db\u05dd.<\/p>\n<p>\u05de\u05d6\u05dc \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05e1\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05e1\u05e4\u05d9\u05e8. \u05e9\u05ea\u05d6\u05db\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d9\u05d7\u05d3 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05de\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d4, \u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6GviDUjTWH\">pic.twitter.com\/6GviDUjTWH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u05d9\u05e6\u05d7\u05e7 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05d2 Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Isaac_Herzog\/status\/2073853334428004743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Rom Braslavski, another hostage who was briefly held with Trufanov in Gaza, posted pictures of himself with his friend at the wedding, as well as a video of him and the newly married couple being hoisted to dance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, we are together, not in Rafah, not stuffed in a trunk, but free and you are in a beautiful groom\u2019s suit marrying Sapir. How much you talked about her, my brother,\u201d he wrote on Instagram. \u201cThere is nothing happier for me than accompanying you on this day, and I hope both of you will bring into the world happy little children and that they won\u2019t know evil. May they not know war, with God\u2019s help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another wedding featuring a former hostage is scheduled for next month. Eliya Cohen, who was held for 505 days, marked his engagement to Ziv Abud in a party that took place last week. He wore a jacket that read \u201cBring them Home\u201d when other grooms wore it during the hostage crisis. With all hostages out of Gaza since January, Cohen altered it to read \u201cDad, thank you,\u201d a mantra that he said sustained him during his captivity.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen did not know that Abud had survived the attack on the Nova music festival until after his release. While he was held hostage, she drew attention to his plight by setting a romantic table with an unfilled place on the boardwalk in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Former%20Israeli%20hostages%20Sasha%20Trufanov%20and%20Sapir%20Cohen%20wed%20in%20emotional%20ceremony\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":93121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1884],"tags":[8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93122,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93120\/revisions\/93122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}